GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - At the half on Tuesday night inside the DU Student Center, Davenport led visiting Olivet College by just five points, 45-40, and the visitors had shot nearly 60 percent from the field in those first 20 minutes. Turn the page to the second half where the Panthers clamped down defensively, held the Comets to just 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and outscored them 50-34 to win the game by 21, 95-74.

Nine of the 11 Panthers that played found the scoring column with four reaching double-figures at the top including Tafari Beckford (16), Jarrin Randall (16), Evan Hines (16), and Robbie Bramhill (14). Bramhill also led the team in rebounds with seven, blocks with two and steals with three (tied with Chris Rollins) while Rollins assisted on seven field goals, one off his career high. Six different Panthers made at least one three-pointer led by three from Hines who has sunken multiple triples in two of the last three games.

In the first half, aside from two ties at 2-2 and 40-40, Davenport had the lead throughout and was up by as many as 11 at 26-15. At that point, it looked like the Panthers were going to run away with it before the Comets scored nine-straight points to pull within two, 26-24, with just over eight minutes to go until halftime. Chris Pearl then drained a three and Rollins converted a layup to get the home team's advantage back to seven, 31-24, but Olivet wouldn't go away just like that. The second tie came and went before Janeau Joubert made a triple and Beckford sent the good guys into the locker room with some momentum after a fast-break dunk at the buzzer.

Out of the intermission, Olivet pulled within four on three diffrerent occasions including 47-43, 49-45 and 53-49. After that third occurance, Davenport reeled off a 20-7 run that put it up by 17, 73-56, followed by a 17-8 spurt that gave the Panthers a 23-point lead, 90-67. The host's biggest lead of the night was 24 and came when it was 95-71 before the final 21-point tally.

In the team head-to-head, Davenport dominated in points off turnovers (30-8), bench scoring (50-27), points in the paint (48-30), and fast break points (25-13).

Next up, the Panthers will finish up the four-game homestand on Saturday by hosting Truman with the opening tip set for 3 p.m.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler